The Ukrainian attacks on the sprawling Russian warehouses produced stark images, with massive pillars of black smoke rising above fires that raged at facilities of Wildberries, the country\u2019s biggest online retailer and its equivalent of Amazon.<\/p>\n
Kyiv\u2019s drones first hit the sites<\/a> over the weekend, and then struck five more Wildberries warehouses<\/a> during the week, including one in Crimea<\/a>, which Russia illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014. In all, nine people were killed, and scores more injured.<\/p>\n The strikes are part of Kyiv\u2019s aerial campaign aimed at undermining Russia\u2019s war effort, hurting its economy<\/a> and making people feel the consequences of the Kremlin\u2019s all-out invasion of Ukraine<\/a>.<\/p>\n A look at Wildberries and how it became a wartime target: <\/p>\n A retailer that has grown since 2004 <\/p>\n Wildberries was launched in 2004 by Tatyana Kim, a teacher and a young mother at the time, focusing at first on selling clothes.<\/p>\n Since then, the platform with its distinct purple logo has become an industry leader and household name, allowing big and small businesses alike to sell their goods to customers across the country by storing, shipping and delivering their inventory. In April, Forbes Russia estimated Kim\u2019s fortune at $8.1 billion. <\/p>\n The marketplace features all sorts of goods \u2014 clothes, books, cosmetics, toys, appliances, household items, sports gear and much more. There\u2019s an \u201cE-Pharmacy\u201d page and a travel section where users can book plane tickets or hotels. <\/p>\n In 2021, Kim acquired a small bank and turned it into what now is Wildberries Bank, but that institution has since come under sanctions by the U.K. and the European Union. <\/p>\n Kim has said that last year, the company had more than 200 logistics facilities totaling over 5.2 million square meters (55 million square feet), with plans to expand in 2026, including planned warehouses in Belarus and Kazakhstan, where Wildberries operates as well. It also operates in Russian-held Crimea. <\/p>\n Some 500,000 to 800,000 sellers are involved with Wildberries, estimated Sergei Semko, a leading analyst with Data Insight, a Moscow-based company that analyzes online retail in Russia. <\/p>\n Wildberries currently accounts for 52% of all online orders in Russia, Semko told The Associated Press. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \n Sign up for Morning Wire:<\/strong> Shoppers interviewed Thursday by AP in Moscow praised the convenience of Wildberries. One said she would continue to use it, even if it will cost more because of the attacks.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, if they raise the prices, I don\u2019t mind. It still saves me time, and time is even more valuable,\u201d said Irina Potapova.<\/p>\n Kyiv says the stricken facilities supplied Russia\u2019s military<\/p>\n While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy<\/a> did not name Wildberries directly, he has said the facilities his country attacked were involved in supplying gear and various technical components to the Russian military. <\/p>\n Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that \u201cit is not the case\u201d and accused Kyiv of continuing to \u201cstrike civilian targets.\u201d<\/p>\n An AP search of the Wildberries website showed goods that could be used for both civilian and military purposes, such as body armor, helmets, radios and other electronics. Some of those were even marked as \u201ctested in the SVO\u201d or \u201cSVO fighters\u2019 choice\u201d \u2014 a Russian acronym for \u201cspecial military operation,\u201d the term used by the Kremlin for the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n Wildberries did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Russia regularly attacks Ukrainian logistics and retail facilities, including several that were hit last week.<\/p>\n The attacks are a blow to Russia\u2019s small businesses<\/p>\n Ukrainian drones hit sites<\/a> in Elektrostal, just east of Moscow, and in the Tambov region over the weekend. Two more Wildberries warehouses \u2014 in the southern Krasnodar and Stavropol regions \u2014 were attacked and set ablaze early Wednesday.<\/a> On Friday, Kim reported strikes on facilities in St. Petersburg, the adjacent Leningrad region and Simferopol in Russian-held Crimea. <\/p>\n The attacks have dealt a massive blow to many small businesses in Russia, Semko said.<\/p>\n Online retailers like Wildberries and its competitors Ozon and Yandex Market have enabled local craftsmen and entrepreneurs to sell their goods across Russia\u2019s vast territory, he said.<\/p>\n Since Saturday, people have taken to social media to say that inventory for their businesses that was being stored by Wildberries in the attacked facilities had been destroyed, tearfully recounting their losses.<\/p>\n The extent of the damage is hard to gauge.<\/p>\n According to Wildberries\u2019 online statements, it took three days to put out the fire at the facility in Elektrostal, a key distribution hub for Moscow, but the site in Kotovsk, in the Tambov region, resumed operations Thursday. <\/p>\n In the Stavropol region, authorities reported the fire was extinguished on Thursday evening \u2014 more than 24 hours after the attack. <\/p>\n Speaking about attacked facilities in St. Petersburg, the Leningrad region and illegally annexed Crimea, Kim said that \u201csome of the spaces and goods were salvaged,\u201d but didn\u2019t elaborate. <\/p>\n In order to support the sellers, Wildberries offered discounts on storage fees, the free transfer of goods to other facilities, discounted loans at the Wildberries Bank and other measures.<\/p>\n Many wondered whether they would be compensated for their losses. Earlier this month, the company changed its seller policy and is now exempt from liability for stock damaged because of a \u201cforce majeure,\u201d which includes drone attacks.<\/p>\n Late Wednesday, Kim said the company began payments to sellers whose inventory was damaged at the Elektrostal site. \u201cFirst and foremost, we want to support the smallest and most vulnerable entrepreneurs \u2014 there are more than 88,000 of them. The funds will appear on sellers\u2019 balances within 24 hours,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Semko cautioned that there is not enough data to make an assessment, but he estimated the stricken facilities in the Moscow, Tambov, Krasnodar and Stavropol regions accounted for about 12% of Wildberries\u2019 total warehouse space. He said that the losses of the goods stored in those could be as high as about $3 billion.<\/p>\n
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